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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:25 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:25 -0700 |
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diff --git a/11264-h/11264-h.htm b/11264-h/11264-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04c6ac7 --- /dev/null +++ b/11264-h/11264-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1625 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Solaris (vers 1st October 2003), see www.w3.org" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Mirror of Literature, Issue 327.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note, .footnote + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; margin: auto;} + .figure img + {border: none;} + .figure p + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11264 ***</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>[pg +97]</span> +<h1>THE MIRROR<br /> +OF<br /> +LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<table width="100%" summary="Volume, Number, and Date"> +<tr> +<td align="left"><b>Vol. XII. No. 327.</b></td> +<td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1828</b></td> +<td align="right"><b>[PRICE 2d.</b></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>ROSAMOND'S WELL AND LABYRINTH</h3> +. +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href= +"images/327-1.png"><img width="100%" src="images/327-1.png" alt= +"" /></a> Rosamond's Well and Labyrinth at Woodstock.</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>[pg +98]</span> +<p>For the originals of the annexed engravings we are indebted to +the sketchbooks of two esteemed correspondents.<a id="footnotetag1" +name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> The +sites are so consecrated, or we should rather say perpetuated, in +history, and the fates and fortunes of Rosamond Clifford are so +familiar to our readers, that we shall add but few words on the +locality of the Well and Bower. Their existence is thus attested by +Drayton, the poet, in the reign of Queen +Elizabeth:—"Rosamond's Labyrinth, whose ruins, together with +her Well, being paved with square stones in the bottom, and also +her Tower, from which the Labyrinth did run, are yet remaining, +being vaults arched and walled with stone and brick, almost +inextricably wound within one another, by which, if at any time her +lodging were laid about by the queen, she might easily avoid peril +imminent, and, if need be, by secret issues, take the air abroad, +many furlongs about Woodstock, in Oxfordfordshire."</p> +<p>Sir Walter Scott (of whom, as of Goldsmith, it may hereafter be +said, he "left no species of writing untouched or unadorned by his +pen") has resuscitated the interest attached to this spot, in his +masterly novel of <i>Woodstock</i>.<a id="footnotetag2" name= +"footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> It is here +that the beautiful Alice meets the facetious Charles in his +disguise of an old woman; and on the bank over the Well is the spot +where tradition relates fair Rosamond yielded to the menaces of +Eleanor. Our correspondent, <i>T.W.</i>, jocosely observes, that he +sends us the Labyrinth "without the silken cord which guided the +cruel Eleanor to her rival, in the hope that the ingenuity of the +reader will be sufficient to serve him in its stead. Observe," +continues he, "the maze is entered at one of the side gates, and +the bower must be reached without any of the barriers (—) +being passed over—that is, by an uninterrupted +pathway."<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href= +"#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p>The bower consists of fine tall trees, whose branches hang +entwined over the front of the well. The spring is contained in a +large basin, formed by a plain stone wall, which serves as a facing +and support to the bank; the water flows from hence through a hole +of about five inches in diameter, and is conveyed by a channel +under the pavement into another basin of considerable dimensions, +fenced with an iron railing. Hence it again escapes by means of a +grating into the beautiful lake of Woodstock Park, or, as it is +more modernly termed, Blenheim.</p> +<p>In these days of "hobgoblin lore," it may not be incurious to +add, that Woodstock is distinguished in Dr. Plot's <i>History of +Oxfordshire</i> (the <i>title</i> of which is well known to all +readers of the marvellous) as the scene of a series of hoax and +disturbance played off upon the commissioners of the Long +Parliament, who were sent down to dispark and destroy Woodstock, +after the death of Charles I.; and Sir Walter Scott thinks it +"highly probable" that this "piece of phantasmagoria was conducted +by means of the secret passages and recesses in the Labyrinth of +Rosamond"—it must be admitted, a very convenient scene for +such a farce. Sir Walter says, "I have not the book at +hand"—neither have we; but we may probably allude to this +curious affair on some future occasion. In the meantime, if our +present reference should kindle the curiosity of the reader, and he +may not <span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>[pg +99]</span> be disposed to await our time, we beg to recommend him +to Glanville's well-known work on witchcraft, which not only +contains Dr. Plot's narrative of the Woodstock disturbances, but a +multitude of argument for all who are sceptical of this and similar +mysteries. This is an age of inquiry, and we do not see why such +follies should be left unturned—from Priam's shade to the +murderous dreams and omens of our own times.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE "NAPOLEON" CHILD.</h3> +<p>On Friday the 8th inst. we paid a visit to the Bazaar in +Oxford-street, to witness this extraordinary sport of Nature, about +which the French and English newspapers have lately been so +communicative.</p> +<p>The child is an engaging little girl, about three years old. The +colour of her eyes is pale blue, and on the iris, or circle round +their pupils, the inscriptions on</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>Left Eye</i>.<br/>NAPOLEON<br/>EMPEREUR.</p> +<p><i>Right Eye</i>.<br/>EMPEREUR.<br/>NAPOLEON.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>may be traced in the above sized letters, although all the +letters are not equally visible, the commencement "NAP" and "EMP" +being the most distinct. The colour of the letters is almost white, +and at first sight of the child they appear like <i>rays</i>, which +make the eyes appear vivacious and sparkling. The accuracy of the +inscriptions is much assisted by the stillness of the eye, on its +being directed upwards, as to an object on the ceiling of the room, +&c.; and with this aid the several letters may be traced with +the naked eye.</p> +<p>This effect is accounted for by the child's mother earnestly +looking at a franc-piece of Napoleon's, which was given to her by +her brother previous to a long absence; and this operating during +her pregnancy, has produced the appearance in question. It was +visible at the child's birth, and has increased with her growth. +She has been seen by Sir Astley Cooper and other leading members of +the profession, and probably before our Number is published, she +will have been shown to the King. She is an interesting little +creature, prattles playfully, and will doubtless receive the +caresses of thousands of visitors.</p> +<p>Our contemporaries are, we perceive, somewhat divided as to the +distinctness of the inscription; but we have given our opinion +fairly—and, as the proverb runs, "seeing is believing." One +of them describes the child as "a little <i>boy</i>, about two +years old." This reminds us of the man in the <i>Critic</i>, "give +these fellows a good thing, and they never know when to have done +with it."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>PORTUGUESE PRISONS.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>Most of the Portuguese prisons are horrible in the extreme; and +it is utterly impossible for the most hardy individuals, who have +the misfortune to be long confined within them, to preserve their +health from ruin.</p> +<p>The famous prison of the <i>Limoeiro</i>, at Lisbon, is a +dreadful place of durance. It is situated on one of the mountainous +streets in the Portuguese metropolis, and was formerly the +archbishop's palace. A vast proportion of the crimes committed in +the city are plotted between the persons confined within, and those +without, the prison; for there is nothing to prevent constant +communication with the street through the double iron-bars, so that +an unchecked and unobserved intercourse is maintained, much to the +furtherance of crime. Through these bars all sorts of food, +liquors, raiment, weapons, &c. can be conveyed from the street; +and, indeed, through these bars the meals of the prisoners are +served. The prison is capable of containing about 700 people; the +usual number, however, is 400. The state of the apartments in which +the criminals pass their time is truly distressing. The stench is +overpowering; and though visitors remain in the rooms only a few +minutes, they often retire seriously indisposed. The expense of +maintaining the prisoners is 8,000 cruzados, or about +1,000<i>l</i>. per annum. Of this sum, one-half is paid by the +city, and the other by the <i>Misericordia</i>, a benevolent +association, possessing large funds from various bequeathed +estates. Nevertheless, the food appears insufficient; it consists +chiefly of a soup made of rice. The allowance of bread is one pound +and a half per day for four persons.</p> +<p>G.W.N.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>ADDRESSED TO MISS STREET.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>In London's variegated streets</p> +<p>The eye, whatever pleases, meets;</p> +<p>For like another Street, I know,</p> +<p>Those Streets each day more charming grow.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>As if by magic's changeful wand,</p> +<p class="i2">Taste, beauty, order, strength combine;</p> +<p>And shew a mighty master's hand</p> +<p class="i2">In every graceful curve and line.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>But meaner temples strive in vain</p> +<p>Perfection's envied height to gain;</p> +<p>For in our matchless Street alone,</p> +<p>The charm of perfect beauty's known.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>How blest, if at that living shrine,</p> +<p class="i2">With deepest feeling, warm and true,</p> +<p>The nameless happiness were mine,</p> +<p class="i2">To bend in form—and spirit too.</p> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>[pg +100]</span> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>But no—though in my ardent breast,</p> +<p>The fires of love must ever rise,</p> +<p>Th' adverse circles of my fate,</p> +<p>Forbid the outward sacrifice.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>My spirit breathes its inmost breath,</p> +<p class="i2">In this my first—my last confession:—</p> +<p>The passion will survive till death,</p> +<p class="i2">But never more can know expression.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>W.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>CHILDE'S TOMB.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>From "time out of mind" a tradition has existed in Dartmoor, +Devon, and is noticed by several writers, that one <i>John +Childe</i>, of Plymstock, a gentleman of large possessions, and a +noted hunter, whilst enjoying that sport during a very inclement +season, was benighted, lost his way, and perished through cold and +fear, in the south quarter of the forest, near Fox-tor, after +taking the precaution to kill his horse, (which he much valued), as +a last resource, and for the sake of warmth and prolonging life, to +creep into its bowels, leaving a paper, denoting, that whoever +should find and bury his body, should have his lands at +Plymstock.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"<i>The furste that fyndes and bringes me to my grave,</i></p> +<p><i>The landes of Plymstoke they shal have</i>."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>This couplet was found on his person afterwards. Childe, having +no issue, had previously declared his intention of bestowing his +estates upon the church wherein he might be buried, which coming to +the knowledge of the monks of Tavistock, they eagerly seized the +body, and were conveying it to that place; but learning on the way, +that some people of Plymstock were waiting at a ford to intercept +the prey, they cunningly ordered a bridge to be built out of the +usual track, thence pertinently called <i>Guile</i>-bridge, and +succeeding in their object, became possessed of the lands until the +dissolution, when the Russell family received a grant of them, and +still retain it.</p> +<p>In memory of Childe, a tomb was erected to him in a place a +little below Fox-tor, where he perished, which stood perfect till +about fifteen years since; but it has been destroyed by some +ignorant "landlord or tenant," for building materials, and it is +now in a ruinous condition. It was composed of hewn granite, the +under basement comprising four stones, six feet long by four +square, and eight stones more, growing shorter as the pile +ascended, with an octagonal basement, above three feet high, and a +cross affixed to it. The whole, when perfect, wore an antique and +impressive appearance, and it may now, as it is, be looked upon as +an object of antiquity and curiosity.</p> +<p>A socket and groove for the cross, and the cross itself, with +its shaft broken, are the only remains of this venerable tomb, on +which Risdon says there was an inscription, but now no traces of it +are visible.</p> +<p>W. H. H.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>REMEMBER THEE.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Remember thee! thou wouldst not cherish—breathe,</p> +<p class="i2">One claim for Memory in a heart like mine;</p> +<p>Yet, all it-all its hopes for Heaven, or Earth beneath.</p> +<p class="i2">Were worthless, if unshared by thee and thine!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Remember thee! yes, bound in strongest ties</p> +<p class="i2">Are those blest ones, that at thy feet may +fall,—</p> +<p>The heart whom Fortune such dear bonds denies,</p> +<p class="i2">Is proud to love thee dearer than them all!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Remember thee! there is no shame in this,</p> +<p class="i2">Though oft my heart may wander, and my eye,</p> +<p>Picturing fair shapes of too ideal bliss,</p> +<p class="i2">Forgets the "cold world of reality."</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Remember thee! there is no error here—</p> +<p class="i2">To love the gay, the beautiful, the bright,</p> +<p>With fondest passion, then to turn with fear</p> +<p class="i2">To sterner duties—tasks forgotten quite.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Remember thou that one, who loved thee well</p> +<p class="i2">Though scorned, and broken-hearted, and undone,</p> +<p>When, without shame, thy ruby lips may tell</p> +<p class="i2">How deep the passion of that nameless one!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Remember! oh, remember! in those years</p> +<p class="i2">Which fleet so fast—which I may never see;</p> +<p>Then, whilst I linger in this "vale of tears,"</p> +<p class="i2">What should I think upon, but God and thee!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>THOMAS M——s.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS</h3> +<h3>AUGUST.</h3> +<h4>(<i>For the Mirror.</i>)</h4> +<p>The <i>Portumnalia</i> was a festival in honour of +<i>Portumnus</i>, who was supposed to preside over ports and +havens, celebrated on the 17th of August, in a very solemn and +lugubrious manner, on the borders of the Tiber.</p> +<p>The <i>Vinalia</i> were festivals in honour of Jupiter and +Venus. The first was held on the 19th of August, and the second on +the 1st of May. The Vinalia of the 19th of August were called +<i>Vinalia Rustica</i>, and were instituted on occasion of the war +of the Latins against Mezentius; in the course of which war, that +people vowed a libation to Jupiter of all the wine in the +succeeding vintage. On the same day likewise fell the dedication of +a temple to Venus; whence some authors <span class="pagenum"><a id= +"page101" name="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> have fallen into a +mistake, that these Vinalia were sacred to Venus.</p> +<p>The <i>Consuales Ludi</i>, or <i>Consualia</i>, were festivals +at Rome in honour of <i>Consus</i>, the god of counsel, whose altar +Romulus discovered under the ground. This altar was always covered, +except at the festival, when a mule was sacrificed, and games and +horse-races exhibited in honour of Neptune. It was during these +festivals (says Lempriere) that Romulus carried away the Sabine +women, who had assembled to be spectators of the games. They were +first instituted by Romulus. Some say, however, that Romulus only +regulated and re-instituted them after they had been before +established by Evander. During the celebration, which happened +about the middle of August, horses, mules, and asses were exempted +from all labour, and were led through the streets adorned with +garlands and flowers.</p> +<p>The <i>Volturnalia</i> was a festival kept in honour of the god +Volturnus, on the 26th of August.</p> +<p>The <i>Ambarvalia</i> were festivals in honour of Ceres, in +order to procure a happy harvest. At these festivals they +sacrificed a bull, a sow, and a sheep, which, before the sacrifice, +were led in procession thrice around the fields; whence the feast +is supposed to have taken its name, <i>ambio, I go round</i>, and +<i>arvum, field</i>. These feasts were of two kinds, <i>public</i> +and <i>private</i>. The <i>private</i> were solemnized by the +masters of families, accompanied by their children and servants, in +the villages and farms out of Rome. The <i>public</i> were +celebrated in the boundaries of the city, and in which twelve +<i>fratres arvales</i> walked at the head of a procession of the +citizens, who had lands and vineyards at Rome. These festivals took +place at the time the harvest was ripe.</p> +<p>The <i>Vulcanalia</i> were festivals in honour of Vulcan, and +observed at the latter end of August. The streets of Rome were +illuminated, fires kindled every where, and animals thrown into the +flames as a sacrifice to the deity.</p> +<p>P.T.W.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE NOVELIST</h2> +<h3>BEBUT THE AMBITIOUS.</h3> +<blockquote> +<p>"Hear this true story, and see whither you may be conducted by +ambition."</p> +<p>HAFIZ, <i>the Persian Poet</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In one of the suburbs of Ispahan, under the reign of Abbas the +First, there lived a poor, working jeweller. In his neighbourhood +he was known by the name of Bebut the Honest. Numberless were the +proofs of probity and disinterestedness which had gained for him +this title.</p> +<p>In all disputes and quarrels, he was the chosen arbiter. His +decisions were generally as conclusive as those of the Kazi +himself. Laborious, active, and intelligent, and esteemed by all +who knew him, Bebut was happy; and his happiness was still enhanced +by love. Tamira, the beautiful daughter of his patron, was the +object of his attachment, which she returned. One thought alone +disturbed his felicity; he was poor, and the father of Tamira would +never accept a son-in-law without a fortune. Bebut, therefore, +often meditated upon the means of getting rich. His thoughts dwelt +so much on this subject, that ambition at length became a dangerous +rival to the softer sentiment.</p> +<p>There was a grand festival in the harem. In the midst of it, the +great Schah Abbas dropped the royal aigrette, called jigha, the +mark of sovereignty among the Mussulmans. In changing his position, +that it might be sought for, he inadvertently trod upon it, and it +was broken. The officer who had charge of the crown jewels, knew +the reputation of Bebut; to him he applied to repair this treasure. +None but the most honest could be trusted with an article of such +value, and who was there so honest as Bebut? Bebut was enraptured +with the confidence. He promised to prove himself deserving of +it.</p> +<p>Now Bebut holds in his hands the richest gems of Persia and the +Indies. Ambition has already stolen into his bosom. Could it be +silent on an occasion like this? It ought to have been so, but it +was not.</p> +<p>"A single one of these numerous diamonds," said Bebut to +himself, "would make my fortune and that of Tamira! I am incapable +of a breach of trust; but were I to commit one, would Abbas be the +worse for it? No, so far from it, he would have made two of his +subjects happy without being aware. Now, any body else situated as +I am, would manage to put aside a vast treasure out of a job like +this; but one, and that a very small one, of these many gems will +be enough for me. It will be wrong, I confess, but I will replace +it by a false one, cut and enchased with such exquisite taste and +skill, that the value of the workmanship shall make up for any want +of value in the material. It will be impossible to see the change; +God and the Prophet will see it plainly enough, I know; but I will +atone for the sin, and it shall be my only one. Sometime or other I +will go a pilgrimage to Mashad, or even to <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> Mecca, +should my remorse grow troublesome."</p> +<p>Thus, by the power of a "but," did Bebut the Honest contrive to +quiet his conscience. The diamond was removed: a bit of crystal +took its place, and the jigha appeared more brilliant than ever to +the courtiers of Abbas, who, as they never spoke to him but with +their foreheads in the dust, could, of course, form a very accurate +estimate of the lustre of his jewels.</p> +<p>One day during the spring equinox, as the chief of the sectaries +of Ali, according to the custom of Persia, was sitting at the gate +of his palace to hear the complaints of his people, a mechanic from +the suburb of Julfa broke through the crowd; he prostrated himself +at the feet of the Abbas, and prayed for justice; he accused the +kazi of corruption, and of having condemned him wrongfully. "My +adversary and I," said he, "at first appealed to Bebut the Honest, +who decided in my favour." Being informed who this Bebut was whose +name for honesty stood so high in the suburb of Julfa, the Schah +ordered the kazi into his presence. The monarch heard both sides +and weighed the affair maturely. He then pronounced for the +decision of Bebut the Honest, whom he ordered the kalantar, or +governor of the city, immediately to bring before him.</p> +<p>When Bebut saw the officer and his escort halt before the shop +where he worked, a sudden tremor ran through his frame; but it was +much worse when, in the name of the Schah, the officer commanded +him to follow. He was on the point of offering his head at once, in +order to save the trouble of a superfluous ceremony which could +not, he thought, but end with the scimitar. However, he composed +himself, and followed the kalantar.</p> +<p>Arrived before Abbas, he did not dare lift his eyes, lest he +should see the fatal aigrette, and the false diamond rise up in +judgment against him. Half dead with fright, he thought he already +beheld the fierce rikas advancing with their horrid hatchets.</p> +<p>"Bebut, and you, Ismael-kazi," said Abbas to them, "listen. +Since, of the two, it is the jeweller who best administers justice, +let the jeweller be a judge, and the judge be a jeweller. Ismael, +take Bebut's place in the workshop of his master: may you acquit +yourself as well in his office, as he is sure to do in yours."</p> +<p>The sentence was punctually executed; and I am told that Ismael +turned out an excellent jeweller.</p> +<p>Bebut-kazi, on his side, took possession of his place. He was +quite determined to limit his ambition to becoming the husband of +Tamira, and living holily. He immediately asked her in marriage, +and was immediately accepted. Bebut thought himself at the summit +of his wishes. He was forming the most delightful projects, when +again the kalantar of Ispahan appeared at his door. Still, full of +the fright into which this worthy person's first visit had thrown +him, he received him with more flurry than politeness. He inquired, +confusedly, to what he was indebted for the honour of this second +visit. The kalantar replied, "When I went to the house of your +patron to transmit to you the mandate of the magnanimous Abbas, I +saw there the beautiful Tamira with the gazelle eyes, the rose of +Ispahan, brilliant as the azure campac which only grows in +Paradise. Her glance produced on me the magical effect of the seal +of Solomon, and I resolved to take her for my wife. I went this +very morning to her father, but his word was given to you; and +Bebut-kazi is the only obstacle to my happiness. Listen! I possess +great riches, and have powerful friends; give up to me your claim +on Tamira, and, ere long, I will get you appointed divan-beghi; you +shall be the chief sovereign of justice in the first city in the +universe; I will give you my own sister for a wife, she who was +formerly the nightingale of Iran, the dove of Babylon. I leave you +to reflect on my offer; to-morrow I return for the answer."</p> +<p>The new kazi was thunderstruck. "What! yield my Tamira to him +for his sister! Why, she may be old and ugly; 'tis like exchanging +a pearl of Bahrein for one of Mascata; but he is powerful. If I do +not consent, he will deprive me of my place; and I like my place; +and yet I would freely sacrifice it for Tamira. But were I no +longer kazi, would her father keep his promise? Doubtful. I love +Tamira more than all the world; but we must not be selfish; we must +forget our own interest, when it injures those we love. To deprive +Tamira of a chance of being the wife of a kalantar would be doing +her an injury. How could I have the heart to force her to forego +such a glory, merely for the sake of the poor insignificant kazi +that I am! I should never get over it; 'tis done! I will immolate +my happiness to hers! I shall be very wretched; +but—but—I shall be divan-beghi."</p> +<p>If Bebut the Honest, misled by dawning avarice, fancied he +committed his first fault for the sake of love, and not of +ambition, he must have been <span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" +name="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> undeceived when these two rival +passions came into competition, and he could only banish the first. +If his eyes were not opened, those of the world began to be; for, +from that moment, he lost (when he had more need of them than ever) +the esteem and confidence he had hitherto inspired, and became +known by the name of Bebut the Ambitious.</p> +<p>Not yet aware that the higher we rise in rank, the harder we +find it to be virtuous, he was for ever flattering himself with the +future. Now, his conduct was to be such as should edify the whole +body of the magistracy of Ispahan, of which he was become the head. +He would not be satisfied with going to Mecca to visit the black +stone, the temple of Kaaba, and purifying himself in the waters of +Zim-zim, the miraculous spring which God caused to issue from the +earth for Agar, and her son Ismael. He would do more; he would +distribute a double zekath<a id="footnotetag4" name= +"footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> to the +poor, and win back for the divan-beghi the noble title which the +people gave to the mechanic of the suburb of Julfa.</p> +<p>The first judgment which he pronounced as divan-beghi, bore +evidence of this excellent resolution; but an unfortunate event +occurred, which proved the truth of the following verse of the +renowned Ferdusi, in his poem of the "Schah-nameh."<a id= +"footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href= +"#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<p>"<i>Our first fault, like the prolific poppy of Aboutige, +produces seeds innumerable. The wind wafts them away, and we know +not where they fall, or when they may rise; but this we know, they +meet us at every step upon the path of life, and strew it with +plants of bitterness.</i>"</p> +<p>The royal aigrette of Schah Abbas was again broken, and +immediately confided to an old comrade of Bebut. He had not, +however, the surname of "Honest," and his work was consequently +subjected to a cautious scrutiny. Now, it was discovered that a +very fine diamond had been taken from the jigha and fraudulently +replaced; the unfortunate jeweller was arrested and dragged to the +tribunal of the divan-beghi. The ambitious Bebut felt that there +was no chance for him if he did not hurry the affair to an +immediate close. He forthwith condemned his innocent +fellow-labourer to the punishment due to his own iniquity, and the +sentence was executed on the instant.</p> +<p>His conscience told him that a man like him was unworthy to +administer justice to his fellow-citizens. A pilgrimage to Mecca +would now no longer suffice to appease his remorse; his ambition +told him it could be lulled by nothing but luxury and splendour. By +severe exactions, he amassed large sums; and by gifts contrived to +gain over the most influential members of the divan; he thus got +appointed Khan of Schamachia, and, from the modest distinctions of +the judicature, he passed to the turbulent honours of military +power—a change by no means rare in Persia.</p> +<p>Abbas was then collecting all his forces to march against the +province of Kandahar, and to reduce the Afghans, who have since +ruled over his descendants. In the battles fought on this occasion, +Bebut the Ambitious gained the signal favour of one equally +ambitious; for Abbas was an indefatigable conqueror, whom fortune, +with all her favours, could never satisfy.</p> +<p>The Khan of Schamachia was so thoroughly devoted to his master, +so blindly subservient to his will, that he presently became his +confidant. He was the very man for the favour of a despot; he had +no opinion of his own, and could always find good reasons for those +to which he assented. This, in the eyes of Abbas, constituted an +excellent counsellor.</p> +<p>The monarch triumphed. Conqueror of the Kurdes, the Georgians, +the Turks, and the Afghans, he re-entered Ispahan in triumph. He +had already made it the capital of his dominions, and now proposed +to himself to enjoy there quietly, in the midst of his glory, the +fruits of his vast conquests; but the heart of the ambitious can +never know repose. The grandeur of the sovereign crushed the +people; Abbas felt this; he knew that, though powerful, he was +detested; he trembled even in the inmost recesses of his palace. In +pursuance of the Oriental policy which has of late years been +introduced into Europe, he resolved to give a diversion to the +general hatred, which, in concentrating itself towards a single +point, endangered the safety of his throne. With this design, he +established, in the principal towns, numerous colonies from the +nations he had conquered, and gave them privileges which excited +the jealousy of the original inhabitants. The nation immediately +divided into two powerful factions, the one calling itself the +Polenks, the other the Felenks party. Abbas took care to keep up +their strength; by alternately exciting and moderating their +violence, he distracted <span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name= +"page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> their attention from the affairs of +government. The disputes between them sometimes looked very +serious; but they were kept under until the festival of the +birthday of the Schah; on that occasion, the contenders were at +last permitted to show their joy by a general fight. Armed with +sticks and stones, they strewed the streets with bodies of the +dying and the dead. Then the royal troops suddenly appeared, and +proclaimed the day's amusements at an end, with slashes of the +sabres drove back the Polenks and the Felenks to their homes.</p> +<p>But no sooner had this great politician ceased to fear his +people, than he began first to dread his court, and next, his own +family. Of his three sons, two had, by his command, been deprived +of sight. By the laws of Persia, they were consequently declared +incapable of reigning, and imprisoned in the castle of +Alamuth.<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href= +"#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> He had only one now remaining. This +was the noble and generous Safi Mirza—the delight of his +father, and the hope of the people. His brilliant qualities, +however, were destined only to be his destruction.</p> +<p>Abbas was one day musing, with some uneasiness, on the valour +and popular virtues of his son, when the young prince suddenly +appeared. He threw himself at his father's feet. He presented him a +note which he had just received, and in which, without discovering +their names, the nobles of the kingdom declared their weariness of +his tyranny. They proposed to the youth to ascend the throne, and +undertook to clear his way to it. Safi Mirza, indignant at a +project which tended to turn him into a parricide, declared all to +the Sebah, and placed himself entirely at his disposal. Abbas +embraced him, covered him with caresses, and felt his affection for +him increase; but, from that moment, his fears redoubled. His +anxiety even prevented him from sleeping. In order to get at the +conspirators, he caused numbers of really innocent persons to die +in tortures; and, feeling that every execution rendered him still +more odious, he feared that his son would be again solicited, and +would not again have virtue to resist.</p> +<p>This state of terror and suspicion becoming insupportable to +him, he resolved to rid himself of it at any cost. A slave was +ordered to murder the prince. He refused to obey, and presented his +own head. "Have I, then, none but ingrates and traitors about me, +to eat my bread and salt?" cried Abbas,—"I swear by my sabre +and by the Koran, that, to him who will remove Safi Mirza, my +generosity and gratitude shall he boundless." Bebut the Ambitious +advanced, and said,—"It is written, that what the king wills +cannot be wrong. To me thy will is sacred—it shall be +obeyed." He went immediately to seek the prince. He met him coming +out of the bath, accompanied by a single akta or valet. He drew his +sabre, and presenting the royal mandate,—"Safi Mirza," said +he, "submit! Thy father wills thy death!"—"My father wills my +death!" exclaimed the unfortunate prince, with a tone "more in +sorrow than in anger." "What have I done, that he should hate me?" +And Bebut laid him dead at his feet.</p> +<p>As a reward for his crime, Abbas sent him the royal vest, called +the calaata, and immediately created him his Etimadoulet, or Prime +Minister.</p> +<p>Paternal love, however, presently resumed its power. Remorse now +produced the same effect upon the king, as terror had done before. +His nights seemed endless. The bleeding shade of his son +incessantly appeared before him, banishing the peace and slumber to +which it had been sacrificed. Shrouded in the garb of mourning, the +monarch of Persia dismissed all pleasure from his court; and, +during the rest of his life, could not be known by his attire from +the meanest of his subjects.</p> +<p>One day he sent for Bebut, who found him standing on the steps +of his throne, entirely clothed in scarlet, the red turban of +twelve folds around his head,—in short, in the garb assumed +by the kings of Persia when preparing to pronounce the decree of +death. Bebut shuddered. "It is written," said the Sehah, "that what +the king wills cannot be wrong. Give me to-day the same proof of +thy obedience which thou didst once before. Bebut, thou hast a +son—bring me his head!" Bebut attempted to speak. "Bebut, +Etimadoulet, Khan of Schamachia—is, then, thy ambition +satiated, that thou hesitatest to satisfy my commands? Obey! Thy +life depends on it!"</p> +<p>Bebut returned with the head of his only child. "Well," said the +father of Mirza, with a horrid smile, "How dost feel?"—"Let +these tears tell you how," answered the unhappy Khan: "I have +killed with my own hand the being I loved best on earth. You can +ask nothing beyond. This day, for the first time, I have cursed +ambition, which could subject me to a necessity like +this."—"Go," said the monarch; "You can <span class= +"pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> now +judge what you have made me suffer, in murdering my son. Ambition +has rendered us the two most wretched beings in the empire. But, be +it your comfort, that your ambition can soar no higher; for this +last deed has brought you on a level with your sovereign."<a id= +"footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href= +"#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> +<p>Abbas received from his subjects and posterity the surname of +THE GREAT. Bebut the Ambitious was presently known only by the +title of Bebut THE INFAMOUS. It is said, he was a short time after +stabbed by the son of the unfortunate jeweller, whom he had so +unjustly condemned to death when divan-beghi. Thus were the words +of the poet Ferdusi verified. His first fault was the cause of all +the others, and their common punishment.—<i>Oriental +Herald</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NOTES OF A READER.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>MURDER</h3> +<p>We are not accustomed to study the clap-traps of the day, but +the following observations, on our first reading of them, came so +forcibly on our imagination, that we then resolved to insert them +in our columns whenever an opportunity should offer; and as the +public are now alive on the subject, none can be better than the +present. We should add, they are taken from the third edition of a +valuable work on Home, written by a lady:—</p> +<p>"I think," says our authoress, "we are quite mistaken in our +estimate of the Italian character, in one respect. Murder is +generally committed in the sudden impulse of ungovernable passion, +not with the slow premeditation of deliberate revenge. That it is +too common a termination of Italian quarrels, it would be vain to +deny; and it is equally true, that however Englishmen may fall out, +or however angry they may be, drunk or sober, they never think of +stabbing, but are always content with beating each other. But in +England murders are generally committed in cold blood, and for the +sake of plunder. In Italy they are more frequently perpetrated in +the moment of exasperation, and for the gratification of the +passions. An Italian will pilfer or steal, cheat or defraud you, in +any way he can. He would rob you if he had courage; but he seldom +murders for the sake of gain. In proof of this, almost all the +murders in Italy are committed amongst the lower orders. One man +murders another who is as much a beggar as himself. Whereas, our +countrymen walk about the unlighted streets of Rome or Naples, at +all hours, in perfect safety. I never heard of one having been +attacked, although the riches of <i>Milor' Inglese</i> are +proverbial. Amongst the immense number of English who have lately +travelled through Italy, though all have been cheated, a few only +have been robbed; and of these, not one has either been murdered or +hurt. I am far, however, from thinking that murders are more +frequent in England than in Italy. In England they are held in far +more abhorrence; they are punished, not only with the terrors of +the law, but the execrations of the people. Every murder resounds +through the land—it is canvassed in every club, and told by +every village fireside; and inquests, trials, and newspapers +proclaim the lengthened tale to the world. But in Italy, it is +unpublished, unnamed, and unheeded. The murderer sometimes escapes +wholly unpunished. Sometimes he compounds for it by paying money, +if he has any—and sometimes he is condemned to the gallies, +but he is rarely executed."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>WINDSOR CASTLE.</h3> +<p>Windsor Castle loses a great deal of its architectural +impression (if I may use that word) by the smooth neatness with +which its old towers are now chiselled and mortared. It looks as if +it was washed every morning with <i>soap and water</i>, instead of +exhibiting here and there a straggling flower, or creeping +weather-stains. I believe this circumstance strikes every beholder; +but most imposing, indeed, is its distant view, when the broad +banner floats or sleeps in the sunshine, amidst the intense blue of +the summer skies, and its picturesque and ancient architectural +vastness harmonizes with the decaying and gnarled oaks, coeval with +so many departed monarchs. The stately, long-extended avenue, and +the wild sweep of devious forests, connected with the eventful +circumstances of English history, and past regular grandeur, bring +back the memory of Edwards and Henries, or the gallant and +accomplished Surrey.</p> +<p><i>On Windsor Castle, written 1825, not by a LAUREATE, but a +poet of loyal, old Church-of-England feelings.</i><a id= +"footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href= +"#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Not that thy name, illustrious dome, recalls</p> +<p>The pomp of chivalry in banner'd halls;</p> +<p>The blaze of beauty, and the gorgeous sights</p> +<p>Of heralds, trophies, steeds, and crested knights;</p> +<p>Not that young Surrey here beguiled the hour,</p> +<p>"With eyes upturn'd unto the maiden's tower;"<a id= +"footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href= +"#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a></p> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>[pg +106]</span> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Oh! not for these, and pageants pass'd away,</p> +<p>gaze upon your antique towers and pray—</p> +<p>But that my SOVEREIGN here, from crowds withdrawn,</p> +<p>May meet calm peace upon the twilight lawn;</p> +<p>That here, among these gray, primaeval trees,</p> +<p>He may inhale health's animating breeze;</p> +<p>And when from this proud terrace he surveys</p> +<p>Slow Thames devolving his majestic maze,</p> +<p>(Now lost on the horizon's verge, now seen</p> +<p>Winding through lawns, and woods, and pastures green,)</p> +<p>May he reflect upon the waves that roll,</p> +<p>Bearing a nation's wealth from pole to pole,</p> +<p>And feel, (ambition's proudest boast above,)</p> +<p>A KING'S BEST GLORY IS HIS COUNTRY'S LOVE!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>The range of cresting towers has a double interest, whilst we +think of gorgeous dames and barons bold, of Lely and Vandyke's +beauties, and gay, and gallant, and accomplished cavaliers like +Surrey. And who ever sat in the stalls at St. George's chapel, +without feeling the impression, on looking at the illustrious +names, that here the royal and ennobled knights, through so many +generations, sat each installed, whilst arms, and crests, and +banners, glittered over the same seat?—<i>Bowles's History of +Bremhill</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>THE THREE TEACHERS.</h3> +<p>To my question, how he could, at his age, have mastered so many +attainments, his reply was, that with his three teachers, "every +thing might be learned, common sense alone excepted, the peculiar +and rarest gift of Providence. These three teachers were, +<i>Necessity</i>, <i>Habit</i>, and <i>Time</i>. At his starting in +life, <i>Necessity</i> had told him, that if he hoped to +<i>live</i> he must <i>labour</i>; <i>Habit</i> had turned the +labour into an <i>indulgence</i>; and <i>Time</i> gave every man an +hour for every thing, unless he chose to yawn it +away."—<i>Salathiel.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>IRISH POOR.</h3> +<p>The poor of England have suffered much and deeply from the +change made in the administration of the poor laws in 1795; but of +late years they have suffered still more from the influx of Irish +paupers. Great Britain has been overrun by half-famished hordes, +that have, by their competition, lessened the wages of labour, and +by their example, degraded the habits, and lowered the opinions of +the people with respect to subsistence. The facilities of +conveyance afforded by steam-navigation are such, that the merest +beggar, provided he can command a sixpence, may get himself carried +from Ireland to England. And when such is the fact—when what +may almost without a metaphor be termed floating bridges, have been +established between Belfast and Glasgow, and Dublin and +Liverpool—does any one suppose, that if no artificial +obstacles be thrown in the way of emigration, or if no efforts be +made to provide an outlet in some other quarter for the pauper +population of Ireland, we shall escape being overrun by it? It is +not conceivable that, with the existing means of intercourse, wages +should continue to be, at an average, 20<i>d</i>. per day in +England, and only 4<i>d</i>. or 5<i>d</i>. in Ireland. So long as +the Irish paupers find that they can improve their condition by +coming to England, thither they will come. At this moment, five or +six millions of beggars are all of them turning their eyes, and +many of them directing their steps to this land of promise! The +locusts that "will eat up every blade of grass, and every green +thing," are already on the wing.—<i>Edin. Rev.</i></p> +<hr /> +<p>According to the parliamentary returns of 1815, the number of +paupers receiving parochial relief in England amounts to 895,336, +in a population of 11,360,505, or about one-twelfth of the whole +community.</p> +<hr /> +<p>There are many on the continent who might far better have been +treading their turnip-fields, or superintending their warehouses at +home, than traversing the Alps, criticising the Pantheon, or +loitering through the galleries of the Vatican.</p> +<hr /> +<p>Twenty years ago there were at Saffet and at Jerusalem but a +small number of Polish Jews—some few hundreds at the most; +there are now, at the very least, 10,000.</p> +<hr /> +<p>Bishop Watson compares a geologist to a gnat mounted on an +elephant, and laying down theories as to the whole internal +structure of the vast animal, from the phenomena of the hide.</p> +<hr /> +<p>It is the harmony of strong contrasts in which greatness of +character truly dwells. As it rises, its variety and rich +profusion, only remind us of those southern mountains, whose +majestic ascent combines the fruits of every latitude, and the +temperature of every clime; the vineyard is scattered around its +base to gladden, and the corn-field waves above to support, the +family of man: mount a little higher, and the traveller is +surrounded by the deep, umbrageous forest, whilst the next +elevation will place his foot on its magnificent diadem of eternal +snows.—<i>Edin. Rev.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>PSALMODY.</h3> +<p>Is it not a melancholy reflection, at the close of a long life, +that, after reciting the Psalms at proper seasons, through the +greatest part of it, no more should be known of their true meaning +and application, than <span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name= +"page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> when the Psalter was first taken in +hand in school?—<i>Bishop Horne.</i></p> +<hr /> +<p>The most northern library in the world is that of Reikiarik, the +capital of Iceland, containing about 3,600 volumes. That of the +Faro Islands has been recently considerably augmented. Another is +establishing at Eskefiorden, in the north of +Iceland.—<i>Foreign Q. Rev.</i></p> +<hr /> +<h3>FRENCH-ENGLISH.</h3> +<p>All recent works of fiction exhibit the deplorable corruption of +the vernacular English. You cannot open a novel or book of travels +printed within the present year without stumbling on French or +Italian words, and so frequent is their occurrence, that they are +often printed in the same type as the rest of the page, not in +italic, as of old. In short, some of the authors of the present day +seem to have "worn their language to rags, and patched it up with +scraps and ends of foreign." This, in great measure proceeds from +"some far-journeyed gentlemen, who, at their return home, powder +their talk with over-sea language. He that cometh lately out of +France, will talk French-English, and never blush at the +matter."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>DEBAUCHERIES OF PARIS.</h3> +<p>We see daily instances giving us cause to lament protracted +residence abroad, and also the haunts of incessant transit across +the channel, which makes our young men more familiar with the +passages, arcades, and cafes of the Palais Royal, than with the +streets of our own metropolis. We have seen many who could name +each single quay along the borders of the Seine; but who were +totally ignorant of those great works of art, the bridges, docks, +and warehouses of their native Thames, otherwise than as they were +hurried past them in the Calais steam-boat.—<i>Quarterly +Review</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<p>We have been somewhat amused with the oddity of a few similes in +the article in Phillips's <i>State Trials</i>, in the last No. of +the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>. Thus an ordinary reader would lose his +way in <i>Howell's State Trials</i>, at the second page, "from the +number of volumes, smallness of print, &c." "A Londoner might +as well take a morning walk through an Illinois prairie, or dash +into a back-settlement forest, without a woodman's aid." Mr. +Phillips has "enclosed but a corner of the waste, swept little more +than a single stall in the Augean stable;" "holding a candle to the +back-ground of history," &c.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>LORD COLLINGWOOD</h3> +<p>Went to sea when eleven years old. He used, himself, to tell as +an instance of his simplicity at this time, "that as he was sitting +crying for his separation from home, the first lieutenant observed +him; and pitying the tender years of the poor child, spoke to him +in terms of such encouragement and kindness, which, as Lord C. +said, so won upon his heart, that taking this officer to his box, +he offered him in gratitude a large piece of plum cake, which his +mother had given him."</p> +<hr /> +<h3>CHANGES OF SOCIETY.</h3> +<p>The circumstances which have most influence on the happiness of +mankind, the changes of manners and morals, the transition of +communities from poverty to wealth, from knowledge to ignorance, +from ferocity to humanity—these are, for the most part, +noiseless revolutions. Their progress is rarely indicated by what +historians are pleased to call important events. They are not +achieved by armies, or enacted by senates. They are sanctioned by +no treaties, and recorded in no archives. They are carried on in +every school, in every church, behind 10,000 counters, at 10,000 +fire-sides. The upper current of society presents no certain +criterion by which we can judge of the direction in which the under +current flows.—<i>Edinburgh Review</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>BATTLE OF THE HEADS.</h3> +<p><i>Phrenologists—Anti-Phrenologists</i>.</p> +<p><i>Phrenologists</i>. The bantling which but a few years since +we ushered into the world, is now become a giant; and as well might +you attempt to smother him as to entangle a lion in the gossamer, +or drown him in the morning dew.</p> +<p><i>Anti-Phrenologists</i>. Your giant is a butterfly; to-day he +roams on gilded wings, to-morrow he will show his hideousness and +be forgotten.</p> +<hr /> +<p>Apf, a Norwegian prince, is stated to have had sixty guards, +each of whom, previous to being enrolled, was obliged to lift a +stone which lay in the royal courtyard, and required the united +strength of ten men to raise. They were forbidden to seek shelter +during the most tremendous storms, nor were they allowed to dress +their wounds before the conclusion of a combat. What would some of +our "Guards" say to such an ordeal?</p> +<hr /> +<h3>PORTRAIT PAINTING.</h3> +<p>No picture is exactly <span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" +name="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> like the original; nor is a +picture good in proportion as it is like the original. When Sir +Thomas Lawrence paints a handsome peeress, he does not contemplate +her through a powerful microscope, and transfer to the canvass the +pores of the skin, the bloodvessels of the eye, and all the other +beauties which Gulliver discovered in the Brobdignagian maids of +honour. If he were to do this, the effect would not merely be +unpleasant, but unless the scale of the picture were proportionably +enlarged, would be absolutely false. And, after all, a microscope +of greater power than that which he had employed, would convict him +of innumerable omissions.</p> +<hr /> +<p>It is calculated that Rome has derived from Spain, for +matrimonial briefs, and other machinery of the Papal court, since +the year 1500—no less than 76,800,000<i>l</i>. or about three +millions and a half per Pope! This is preachee and payee too!</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.</h2> +<hr /> +<h3>THE BACHELOR'S VADE-MECUM.</h3> +<p>To obviate the difficulties and remove the perplexing doubts of +cautious men, myself and a party of friends, who have a large +acquaintance in London and its vicinity, propose publishing a work +in monthly parts, which we mean to entitle "The Bachelor's +Vade-mecum, or a sure guide to a good match." It will contain a +list of all genuine and undoubted heiresses in the metropolis, and +within ten miles around it, and of those ladies whose fortune +depends on contingencies: as our correspondence and information +increase, we shall hope to extend the circle of our inquiries, and +we solicit those communications and assistances which the extent +and utility of our plan require and deserve. Notices will be given +of all who drop off by death and marriage, and of those whose value +may be unexpectedly increased by a legacy, or a sister or brother's +decease. Particular attention will be paid to rich +widows.—The first part of this truly useful work is nearly +ready for the press; and we flatter ourselves that its arrangement +and execution will excite universal applause. The particulars +concerning each lady will be distributed under four heads; the +first will be devoted to her fortune and expectations; the second +to a description of her person; the third to non-essentials; and +under the fourth will be found hints as to the readiest means of +approach, cautions against offending peculiar tastes or prejudices, +and much interesting and valuable information.—A more clear +idea, however, of our scheme will be conveyed by subjoining a few +specimens taken at random from our first number, which will contain +about seventy-five articles.</p> +<p>No. 14.</p> +<p><i>Fortune</i>.—10,000<i>l</i>. certain, left by a +grandfather; two brothers have the same, one of whom is likely to +die before he is of age, which would produce 5,000<i>l</i>. more. +The father in business, supposed to live up to his income. A rich, +single aunt, but not on terms, on account of No. 14's love of +waltzing. A prudent husband might easily effect a +reconciliation.</p> +<p><i>Person</i>.—Fair, with red hair, and freckled, nose +depressed, brow contracted, figure good, two false teeth.</p> +<p><i>Non-essentials</i>.—Bad-tempered, economical almost to +parsimony. Sings a great deal, but has no voice. Dances well; a +Roman Catholic.</p> +<p><i>Miscellaneous Information</i>.—Fond of winning at +cards. A particular dislike to large whiskers; disapproves of +hunting; makes her own gowns, and likes to have them admired.</p> +<p>No. 26.</p> +<p><i>Fortune</i>.—16,000<i>l</i>. from her father, who is +dead, and 10,000<i>l</i>. more certain on the death of her mother, +who is at present ill. It is hoped that her complaint is dropsy, +but more information on this point shall be given in our next +Number.</p> +<p><i>Person</i>.—Fair, with fine blue eyes, good teeth, +beautiful light hair. Tall and well made. Hands and feet bad.</p> +<p><i>Non-essentials</i>.—Weak in understanding, and rather +ungovernable in temper. Has been taught all fashionable +accomplishments; plays well on the harp; sings Italian. Bites her +nails, cannot pronounce her h's, and misplaces her v's and w's. Her +father was a butcher.</p> +<p><i>Miscellaneous Information</i>.—Keeps a recipe-book, and +is fond of prescribing for colds and tooth-aches. Has a great +dislike to lawyers. Eats onions. Fond of bull-finches and +canary-birds. Collects seals. Attends lectures on chemistry. Sits +with her mouth open.</p> +<p>No. 43.</p> +<p><i>Fortune</i>.—60,000<i>l</i>. in her own disposal.</p> +<p><i>Person</i>.—Aquiline nose, large dark eyes, tall and +thin. Fine teeth and hair, supposed false; but the lady's-maid has +high wages, and has not yet been brought to confess.</p> +<p><i>Non-essentials</i>.—Plays well on the piano. +Good-tempered. Aged sixty-three. Evangelical, and a +blue-stocking.</p> +<p><i>Miscellaneous Information</i>.—Dislikes military and +naval men. Fond of hares and trout. Has a great objection to +waltzing. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name= +"page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> Aunt to No. 14. A prudent man might +easily widen the breach between them. Attends Bible-meetings and +charity-schools. Lame of one leg.</p> +<p>No. 61.</p> +<p><i>Fortune</i>.—An only child; father a widower, with +landed property to the amount of 1,500<i>l</i>. per annum, and +40,000<i>l</i>. in the Three per Cents. It is possible he may marry +again, but it is hoped that this may not occur. The daughter lives +with a maternal aunt.</p> +<p><i>Person</i>.—A decidedly handsome brunette. Tall, and +well made.</p> +<p><i>Non-essentials</i>.—Charitable almost beyond her means; +from which, and her wishing her father to marry, she is supposed to +be extremely weak. Temper excellent; said to be well educated, but +of too retiring a disposition to allow of our discovering the fact +without more trouble than the matter is worth.</p> +<p><i>Miscellaneous Information</i>.—Fond of the country. +Goes twice to church on Sundays; but this affords no opportunity to +a lover, as she never looks about her. Has an uncle a bishop, which +may recommend her to a clergyman.</p> +<p>Every person who has directed his attention to the subject, must +perceive at a glance the immense utility of a work of this nature, +conducted, as it will be, by men who pledge their characters on the +correctness of the information they convey. When a bachelor decides +on marriage, by running over a few pages of our work, he will, in +half an hour, be able to select a desirable match; by applying at +our office, and giving testimonials of his respectability, he will +receive the lady's name and address; and he may then pursue his +object with a calm tranquillity of mind, a settled determination of +purpose, which are in themselves the heralds and pledges of +success. Or, should he meet in society a lady who pleases his +taste, before resigning himself to his admiration, he will make +inquiries at our office as to the number under which we have placed +her in our list; and should she be of too little value to deserve a +place in it, he will vigorously root her from his imagination, and +suffer himself no longer to hover round her perilous charms, "come +al lume farfalla."—<i>New Monthly Magazine</i>.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>LONDON LYRICS.—TABLE TALK.</h2> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>To weave a culinary clue,</p> +<p>Whom to eschew, and what to chew,</p> +<p class="i2">Where shun, and where take rations,</p> +<p>I sing. Attend, ye diners-out,</p> +<p>And, if my numbers please you, shout</p> +<p class="i2">"Hear, hear!" in acclamations.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>There are who treat you, once a year,</p> +<p>To the same stupid set; Good cheer</p> +<p class="i2">Such hardship cannot soften.</p> +<p>To listen to the self-same dunce,</p> +<p>At the same leaden table, once</p> +<p class="i2">Per annum's once too often.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Rather than that, mix on my plate</p> +<p>With men I like the meat I hate—</p> +<p class="i2">Colman with pig and treacle;</p> +<p>Luttrell with ven'son-pasty join,</p> +<p>Lord Normanby with orange-wine,</p> +<p class="i2">And rabbit-pie with Jekyll.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Add to George Lambe a sable snipe,</p> +<p>Conjoin with Captain Morris tripe,</p> +<p class="i2">By parsley roots made denser;</p> +<p>Mix Macintosh with mack'rel, with</p> +<p>Calves-head and bacon Sydney Smith,</p> +<p class="i2">And mutton-broth with Spencer.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Shun sitting next the wight, whose drone</p> +<p>Bores, <i>sotto voce</i>, you alone</p> +<p class="i2">With flat colloquial pressure:</p> +<p>Debarr'd from general talk, you droop</p> +<p>Beneath his buzz, from orient soup,</p> +<p class="i2">To occidental Cheshire.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>He who can only talk with one,</p> +<p>Should stay at home, and talk with none—</p> +<p class="i2">At all events, to strangers,</p> +<p>Like village epitaphs of yore,</p> +<p>He ought to cry, "Long time I bore,"</p> +<p class="i2">To warn them of their dangers.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>There are whose kind inquiries scan</p> +<p>Your total kindred, man by man,</p> +<p class="i2">Son, brother, cousin joining.</p> +<p>They ask about your wife, who's dead,</p> +<p>And eulogize your uncle Ned,</p> +<p class="i2">Who died last week for coining.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When join'd to such a son of prate,</p> +<p>His queries I anticipate,</p> +<p class="i2">And thus my lee-way fetch up—</p> +<p>"Sir, all my relatives, I vow,</p> +<p>Are perfectly in health—and now</p> +<p>I'd thank you for the ketchup!"</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Others there are who but retail</p> +<p>Their breakfast journal, now grown stale,</p> +<p class="i2">In print ere day was dawning;</p> +<p>When folks like these sit next to me,</p> +<p>They send me dinnerless to tea;</p> +<p class="i2">One cannot chew while yawning.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Seat not good talkers one next one,</p> +<p>As Jacquier beards the Clarendon;</p> +<p class="i2">Thus shrouded you undo 'em;</p> +<p>Rather confront them, face to face,</p> +<p>Like Holles-street and Harewood-place,</p> +<p class="i2">And let the town run through 'em.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Poets are dangerous to sit nigh—</p> +<p>You waft their praises to the sky,</p> +<p class="i2">And when you think you're stirring</p> +<p>Their gratitude, they bite you. (That's</p> +<p>The reason I object to cats—</p> +<p class="i2">They scratch amid their purring.)</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>For those who ask you if you "malt,"</p> +<p>Who "beg your pardon" for the salt,</p> +<p class="i2">And ape our upper grandees,</p> +<p>By wondering folks can touch Port-wine;</p> +<p>That, reader's your affair, not mine—</p> +<p class="i2">I never mess with dandies.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Relations mix not kindly; shun</p> +<p>Inviting brothers; sire and son</p> +<p class="i2">Is not a wise selection:</p> +<p>Too intimate, they either jar</p> +<p>In converse, or the evening mar</p> +<p class="i2">By mutual circumspection.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Lawyers are apt to think the view</p> +<p>That interests them must interest you;</p> +<p class="i2">Hence they appear at table</p> +<p>Or supereloquent, or dumb,</p> +<p>Fluent as nightingales, or mum</p> +<p class="i2">As horses in a stable.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>When men amuse their fellow guests</p> +<p>With Crank and Jones, or Justice Best's</p> +<p class="i2">Harangue in Dobbs and Ryal—</p> +<p>The host, beneath whose roof they sit,</p> +<p>Must be a puny judge of wit,</p> +<p class="i2">Who grants them a new trial.</p> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>[pg +110]</span> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Shun technicals in each extreme,</p> +<p>Exclusive talk, whate'er the theme,</p> +<p class="i2">The proper boundary passes:</p> +<p>Nobles as much offend, whose clack's</p> +<p>For ever running on Almack's,</p> +<p class="i2">As brokers on molasses.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I knew a man, from glass to delf,</p> +<p>Who talk'd of nothing but himself,</p> +<p class="i2">'Till check'd by a vertigo;</p> +<p>The party who beheld him "fluor'd,"</p> +<p>Bent o'er the liberated board,</p> +<p class="i2">And cried, "Hic jacet ego."</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Some aim to tell a thing that hit</p> +<p>Where last they dined; what there was wit</p> +<p class="i2">Here meets rebuffs and crosses.</p> +<p>Jokes are like trees; their place of birth</p> +<p>Best suits them; stuck in foreign earth,</p> +<p class="i2">They perish in the process.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Ah! Merriment! when men entrap</p> +<p>Thy bells, and women steal thy cap,</p> +<p class="i2">They think they have trepann'd thee.</p> +<p>Delusive thought! aloof and dumb,</p> +<p>Thou wilt not at a bidding come,</p> +<p class="i2">Though Royalty command thee.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The rich, who sigh for thee—the great,</p> +<p>Who court thy smiles with gilded plate,</p> +<p class="i2">But clasp thy cloudy follies:</p> +<p>I've known thee turn, in Portman-square,</p> +<p>From Burgundy and Hock, to share</p> +<p class="i2">A pint of Port at Dolly's.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Races at Ascot, tours in Wales,</p> +<p>White-bait at Greenwich ofttimes fail,</p> +<p class="i2">To wake thee from thy slumbers.</p> +<p>E'en now, so prone art thou to fly,</p> +<p>Ungrateful nymph! thou'rt fighting shy</p> +<p class="i2">Of these narcotic numbers.</p> +<p class="i10"><i>Ibid</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>SELECT BIOGRAPHY</h2> +<h3>LEDYARD THE TRAVELLER.</h3> +<p>John Ledyard, by birth an American, was, in all respects, from +the habits of his life, a citizen of the world. He was born at a +small village called Groton, in Connecticut, on the banks of the +Thames; his father was a captain in the West Indian trade, but died +young, leaving a widow and four children, of whom John was the +eldest; his mother is described as "a lady of many excellences of +mind and character, beautiful in person, well informed, resolute, +generous, amiable, kind, and, above all, eminent for piety and the +religious virtues." Her little property, it seems, was lost through +fraud or neglect, and the widowed mother, with her four infant +children, thrown destitute upon the world. In a few years, however, +she was again married to Dr. Moor, and John was removed to the +house of his grandfather, at Hartford, where, at a very early age, +it is said, he showed many peculiarities in his manners and habits, +indicating an eccentric, an unsettled, and romantic turn of mind. +Having gone through the grammar-school, he was placed with a +relative of the name of Seymour, to study the profession of the +law; but this dry kind of study was soon found to have no +attractions for one of his volatile turn of mind. Something, +however, was to be done to rescue from sheer idleness a youth of +nineteen, with very narrow means, few friends, and no definite +prospects; and, by the kindness of Dr. Wheelock, the pious founder +of Dartmouth College, who had been the intimate friend of his +grandfather, he was enabled to take up his residence at this new +seat of learning, with the ostensible object of qualifying himself +to become a missionary among the Indians.</p> +<p>Impatient of restraint, and indignant at remonstrance and +admonition, he soon abandoned the missionary scheme that appeared +to require too severe initiation, and resolved to make his escape +from the college. The mode adopted to carry this project into +execution was strongly marked with that spirit of enterprise by +which, in after-life, he was so highly distinguished.</p> +<p>On the margin of the Connecticut river, which runs near the +college, stood many majestic forest trees, nourished by a rich +soil. One of these Ledyard contrived to cut down. He then set +himself at work to fashion its trunk into a canoe, and in this +labour he was assisted by some of his fellow-students. As the canoe +was fifty feet long and three wide, and was to be dug out and +constructed by these unskilful workmen, the task was not a trifling +one, nor such as could be speedily executed. Operations were +carried on with spirit, however, till Ledyard wounded himself with +an axe, and was disabled for several days. When recovered, he +applied himself anew to his work; the canoe was finished, launched +into the stream, and, by the further aid of his companions, +equipped and prepared for a voyage. His wishes were now at their +consummation, and bidding adieu to these haunts of the Muses, where +he had gained a dubious fame, he set off alone, with a light heart, +to explore a river, with the navigation of which he had not the +slightest acquaintance. The distance to Hartford was not less than +one hundred and forty miles, much of the way was through a +wilderness, and in several places there were dangerous falls and +rapids.</p> +<p>With a bear-skin covering, and a good supply of provisions, he +launched into the current and floated leisurely down, seldom using +the paddle, till, while engaged in reading, the canoe approached +Below's Falls, the noise of which, rushing among the rocks, +suddenly aroused him; the danger was imminent; had the canoe got +into the narrow passage, it must instantly have been dashed in +pieces, and himself inevitably have perished.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>[pg +111]</span> +<p>By great exertion, however, he escaped the catastrophe and +reached the shore; and by the kind assistance of some people in the +neighbourhood, had his canoe dragged by oxen around the falls, and +again committed to the water. "On a bright spring morning," says +his biographer, "just as the sun was rising, some of Mr. Seymour's +family were standing near his house, on the high bank of the small +river that runs through the city of Hartford and empties itself +into the Connecticut, when they espied, at some distance, an object +of unusual appearance moving slowly up the stream." On a nearer +approach it was discovered to be a canoe, in the stern of which +something was observed to be heaped up, but apparently without life +or motion. At length it struck the shore, and out leapt John +Ledyard from under his bear-skin, to the great astonishment of his +relatives at this sudden apparition, who had no other idea than +that of his being diligently engaged in his studies at Dartmouth, +and fitting himself for the pious office of a missionary among the +Indians.</p> +<p>Now, it was deemed expedient, both by his friends and by +himself, that all further thoughts of his becoming a divine should +be abandoned; and in the course of a few weeks we find him a common +sailor, on board a vessel bound for Gibraltar. While at this place +Ledyard was all at once missing; he had enlisted into the army. The +master, being the friend of his late father, went and remonstrated +with him for this strange freak, and urged him to return. The +commanding officer assented to his release, and he returned to the +ship.</p> +<p>The voyage being finished, the only profit yielded by it to +Ledyard was a little experience in the hardships of a sailor's +life, as his scanty funds were soon exhausted and poverty stared +him in the face. At the age of twenty-two he found himself a +solitary wanderer, dependent on the bounty of his friends, without +employment or prospects, having tried various pursuits, and failed +of success in all. But poverty and privation were trifles of little +weight with Ledyard; his pride was aroused, and he determined to do +something that should exonerate him from all dependence on his +American friends.</p> +<p>He had often heard his grandfather descant on his English +ancestors, and his wealthy connexions in the old country; it struck +him, therefore, while thus hanging loosely on society, that it +might be no unwise thing to visit these relatives, and claim +alliance with them. With this view he proceeded to New York, and +made his terms with the master of a vessel bound for Plymouth. Here +he was set down, without money, without friends, or even a single +acquaintance. How to get to London, where he made himself sure of a +hearty welcome and a home among those connexions, whose wealth and +virtues he had heard so often extolled by his grandfather, was a +matter not easily settled. As good fortune would have it, he fell +in with an Irishman as thoughtless as himself, and whose plight so +exactly resembled his own, that, such is the sympathetic power of +misfortune, they formed a mutual attachment almost as soon as they +came in contact. Both were pedestrians bound to London, and both +were equally destitute of money or friends; and one <i>honest</i> +mode only remained for them to pursue, which was, to address +themselves to "the charitable and humane." This point being +settled, it was agreed to take their turn in begging along the +road; and in this manner they reached London, without having any +reason to complain of neglect, or that there was any lack of +generous and disinterested feeling in the human species. Ledyard's +first object, after arriving in the metropolis, was to find out his +rich relations, in which he was so far successful as to discover +the residence of a wealthy merchant of the same name, to whose +house he hastened. The gentleman was from home; but the son +listened to his story, and plainly told him he could put no faith +in his representations, as he had never heard of any relations in +America. He pressed him, however, to remain till his father's +return, but the suspicion of his being an impostor roused his +indignation to such a pitch that he abruptly left the house and +resolved never to go near it again. It is said that this merchant, +on further inquiry, was satisfied of the truth of the connexion, +and sent for Ledyard, who declined the invitation in no very +gracious manner; that, notwithstanding all this, the merchant +afterwards, on hearing of his distressed situation, sent him money; +and that the money was also rejected with disdain by the American, +who desired the bearer to carry it back, and tell his master that +he belonged not to the race of the Ledyards.</p> +<p>The next capacity in which we find Ledyard is that of a corporal +of marines, on board the ship of Captain Cook, then preparing for +his third and last voyage round the world. Of this voyage Ledyard +is said to have kept a minute journal, which, as in all cases of +voyages of discovery, went among the rest to the Admiralty, and was +never restored. Two years afterwards, Ledyard, with the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>[pg +112]</span> assistance of a brief outline of the voyage published +in London, and from his own recollection, brought out, in a small +duodecimo, his narrative of the principal transactions of the +voyage, in which, we hear (for we have never seen it) he blames the +officers, and Captain Cook in particular, for several instances of +precipitate and incautious conduct, not to say severity, towards +the various natives with whom they were brought in contact. It was +to this want of caution, and a due consideration for the habits and +feelings of the Sandwich Islanders, that he imputed the death of +this celebrated navigator. The late Admiral Burney, who served as a +lieutenant on the voyage, says that, "with an ardent disposition, +Ledyard had a passion for lofty sentiment and description." He adds +that, after Cook's death, Ledyard proffered his services to Captain +Clarke, to undertake the office of historiographer of the +expedition, and presented a specimen descriptive of the manners of +the Society Islanders; "but," says this author, "his ideas were +thought too sentimental, and his language too florid."</p> +<p><i>(To be concluded in our next.)</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>THE GATHERER.</h2> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">"A snapper up of unconsidered trifles."</p> +<p>SHAKSPEARE.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<h3>POLSTEAD.</h3> +<h4><i>(For the Mirror.)</i></h4> +<p>The village of Polstead, though obscurely situate, is not +entirely destitute of celebrity, chiefly derived from an abundance +of the small, sweet, black cherries,<a id="footnotetag10" name= +"footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a> so +common in London, and known for miles round by the exclusive +denomination of Polstead cherries. There are here large orchards of +cherry-trees; and it is a common observation, that the face of a +Polstead man is an index of a good or bad cherry season; if +productive, he may be seen with his chin in the air, his hands in +his pockets, and a saucy answer on the tip of his tongue; if, on +the contrary, the crop of cherries has failed, he hangs his head, +folds his hands behind him, and if asked whence he comes, replies, +in a subdued tone, "<i>From poor Poustead</i>."</p> +<p>Unhappily, as in the event that has given notoriety to this +obscure village, there are some exceptions, but the inhabitants are +for the most part peaceable, well conducted, and only remarkable +for their orthodox belief in ghosts and witches. An old gentleman, +who died there some years ago, lamented till his death a sight he +had lost when a boy, only for the want of five pounds—a man +having undertaken for that sum to make all the witches in the +parish dance on the knoll together; and though he grew up a +penurious man, (and lived a bachelor till fifty), he never ceased +to lament that such an opportunity of seeing these weird-sisters +collected together, never occurred again. He used to say he had +seen a witch "<i>swam</i> on Polstead Ponds," and "she went over +the water like a cork." He had, when a boy, stopped a wizard in his +way to Stoke, by laying a line of single straws across the path; +and, concealed in a hedge, he had watched an old woman (alias +witch) feeding her imps in the form of three blackbirds.</p> +<p>The house in which Mrs. Corder lives is one of the best in the +place, where, strictly speaking, there are not above half-a-dozen, +including the manor-house and rectory, the remainder being mere +cottages; and yet the parish is a rich one. It is singular, that +among the peasantry are to be found the names of Montague, Bedford, +Salisbury, Mortimer, and Holland, while the cognomens of those who +inhabit the houses may be nearly comprised in as many +syllables.</p> +<p>In the adjoining village of Stoke is the seat of Sir William +Rowley, and detached from it a street, called Thirteen +Kings'-street, where, according to local tradition, thirteen kings +once met. In the same parish is Scotland-hall, and another detached +street, called Scotland-street, containing some five or six +cottages; and half a mile from thence is a hilly field, of a dark +clayey soil, occasioned, says tradition, by the flowing of blood +down the hill, during a terrible battle fought there between the +Scots and English.</p> +<p>ZETA.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>CONUNDRUM.</h3> +<p>Why is the gravy of a leg of pork the best gravy in the world? +Because there's no Jews like it.—<i>John Bull</i>.</p> +<hr /> +<h3>POETRY AND PAINTING.</h3> +<p>What the monk said of Virgil's <i>AEneid</i>, "that it would +make an excellent poem if it were only put into rhyme;" is just as +if a Frenchman should say of a beauty, "Oh, what a fine woman that +would be, if she was but painted!"</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name= +"footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag1">(return)</a> +<p>SAGITTARIUS—and T.W. of Hoxton.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name= +"footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag2">(return)</a> +<p>For an abstract of "Woodstock," an engraving, and much valuable +information respecting the palace, see our vol. vii. pp. +289—316—322—327—338, &c.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name= +"footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag3">(return)</a> +<p>As there is a vulgar error on Rosamond's being buried in the +labyrinth, we subjoin the following by another correspondent.</p> +<p>Many readers of the MIRROR, perhaps, have hitherto been only +acquainted with the fictitious part of Fair Rosamond's history. The +few subjoined facts, relative to the eventful life of that lady, +may be implicitly relied on, as they are very carefully gleaned +from the <i>most authenticated sources</i>.</p> +<p>The first mistress to king Henry II. was Rosamond, daughter of +Walter Clifford, Baron of Hereford. She was esteemed the greatest +beauty in England, and her intrigue with Henry was most probably +began when he was not much above sixteen years of age. Very soon +after his amorous acquaintance with this lady, the state of +political affairs in England required his absence, and he did not +again return to this country until the year 1153; so that there +must have been a lapse of nearly six years from the period of his +first intimacy with Rosamond, to the renewal of that intimacy at +his return.</p> +<p>About the year 1157, king Henry took extraordinary precautions +to conceal his intrigue from the knowledge of queen Eleanor, a +woman, of wonderful spirit and penetration, to whom he had been +espoused at the period of his accession to the throne, in 1155. +This circumstance has given rise to the romantic tradition of his +forming a sort of labyrinth at Woodstock Palace, for the purpose of +concealing his fond mistress from the vengeance of Eleanor; but the +story of her being murdered in that palace by the queen is +perfectly false, for it is sufficiently evident that she retired to +the nunnery of Godstow, where she ended her days in peace, though +in what year it is difficult to decide. After Rosamond's decease, +the king bestowed large revenues on the convent, in return for +which, he required that lamps should be kept continually burning +about the lady's remains, which were interred near the high altar, +in a tomb covered with silk.</p> +<p>We may naturally conclude from these circumstances, that, as +long as the connexion between king Henry and Rosamond continued, +the former had no other object in his affections; yet we are +informed by a writer of Thomas à Becket's life, that there +lived a remarkably handsome girl, at Stafford, with whom king Henry +was said to cohabit. However, observes the same writer, Rosamond +<i>might</i> have been dead before the second intrigue was +commenced.</p> +<p>G.W.N.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name= +"footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag4">(return)</a> +<p><i>Zekath</i> is the Persian name for the tithe of alms which +the Koran enjoins to be distributed among the poor.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name= +"footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag5">(return)</a> +<p><i>Schah-nameh</i> signifies the royal book. It was composed by +order of Mahmoud the Gaznevide, and contains 60,000 distichs, the +history of the ancient sovereigns of Persia.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name= +"footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag6">(return)</a> +<p>That is to say, the <i>Castle of the Dead</i>. It was situated +in the Mazanderan, (the ancient Hircania), and had been the abode +of the Old Man of the Mountain, the Prince of Assassins.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote7" name= +"footnote7"></a> <b>Footnote 7</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag7">(return)</a> +<p>A king coolly ordering one of his subjects to cut off the head +of his own child, and being obeyed, is a circumstance so monstrous, +that it would appear beyond all possibility, if it were not +supported by numerous examples. But, incredible as it may seem, it +only paints the common manners of a court, where tyranny, and the +vices which it engenders, altogether extinguish the influence of +nature.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote8" name= +"footnote8"></a> <b>Footnote 8</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag8">(return)</a> +<p>The author had been chaplain to the Prince Regent.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote9" name= +"footnote9"></a> <b>Footnote 9</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag9">(return)</a> +<p>Surrey's Poems.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote10" name= +"footnote10"></a> <b>Footnote 10</b>:<a href= +"#footnotetag10">(return)</a> +<p>Black orvones.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="full" /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11264 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11264-h/images/327-1.png b/11264-h/images/327-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab9e298 --- /dev/null +++ b/11264-h/images/327-1.png |
